While exploring the Warlords of Draenor alpha, I found that besides the announced content such as Frostfire Ridge and the new models, there was another very shocking addition. The classic five-man Blackfathom Deeps has been completely revamped. All of the bosses have been replaced (with the exception of Aku’mai and Ghamoo-ra, who both have new models and abilities), along with new npcs, a new story and a strange new scenario-like quest feature.

First we’ll look at the new dungeon journal, then behind the cut, a sixteen minute long run-through of the entire instance. This was filmed in the also to be revamped, but as a level 100 heroic, Upper Blackrock Spire to give you a sneak preview of that as well. There is no indication that Blackfathom Deeps will have any heroic equivalent.

Now for the run-through itself. You can see that while the layout of the instance is the same, everything else about Blackfathom Deeps has changed.

Unfortunately, the new scenario type quest interface doesn’t quite work. After you get credit for killing all the bosses, nothing happens. Also the quest to kill Aku’mai cannot be turned in.

I cannot help but be reminded of the update Ragefire Chasm received in Mists of Pandaria. Seemingly out of the blue, and without a heroic version to justify it, Ragefire’s update confused many people. It was not until patch 5.4 that it became clear the unheralded update was Blizzard sneakily foreshadowing the Siege of Orgrimmar. With Blackfathom Deeps’ similarly unexpected return complete with prominent mentions of the Old Gods’ immanent return, could this be a sign towards the future of Warlords of Draenor? Or even foreshadowing for the next expansion? If that’s the case, I hope you all like cephalopods!

Ian Bates

World of Warcraft Writer and columnist for Blizzplanet. I am also known as The Red Shirt Guy (BlizzCon).